Category: Recipe

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Ultimate Queen’s Park Swizzle?

I’d be meaning to make this and it was featured on this weekend’s video from Derek on Make & Drink on YouTube. Derek highlights the difference between Trader Vic’s original 1946 recipe from his Book of Food & Drink with the commonly seen modern Queen’s Park Swizzle using colorless rums and a gigantic float of Ango on top. That style looks great on menus and social media, but leans closer to Mojito territory and doesn’t hold up to the Ango as well. And let’s remember Trader Vic’s noteworthy description of this cocktail, “Queen’s Park Swizzle is the most delightful form anesthesia given out today.”

So, I went with the classic Trader Vic’s recipe that originally called for a Demerara rum. I’m actually out of 86 proof Demerara rum, so I used the Hamilton Florida Rum Society blend that’s 60% Demerara and 40% Jamaican rum, and I compared it to my boozy Jamaican-forward Ultimate Mai Rum blend to see which I preferred.

Queen’s Park Swizzle by Trader Vic
Half of a Large Lime
Mint Leaves
3 oz 86 proof Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart or Hudson’s Bay)
2 dash Angostura Bitters
½ oz Simple Syrup
Squeeze lime wedges and drop shells with mint leaves at bottom of 14 oz glass. Fill glass with shaved ice, add most of ingredients and swizzle until glass frosts. Garnish with sprig of mint.

Comparing the two drinks, the Florida Rum Society rum provided some of the classic Demerara rum smoky notes and overall worked better in this cocktail. The Ultimate Mai Tai blend didn’t work as well because I went a little heavy on the Ango which seemed to overpowered the rum. You definitely want a bold rum in this style of drink.

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Ultimate Kingston Negroni

After years of having Campari in cocktails I’m finally getting accustomed this this bitter Italian liqueur, so much so that I actually like the taste of a classic Negroni cocktail and am really digging the riff that replaces gin with Jamaican rum.

New York bartender Joaquín Simó first made this cocktail in 2010, using the potent overproof Smith & Cross Jamaica rum as the featured spirit. I sure do love Smith & Cross but thought I’d try to create the Ultimate Kingston Negroni.

First I tried Planteray’s Xaymaca, a 100% pot still Jamaica rum issued at 43% ABV. This has more of the classic Jamaica rum flavor than something like Appleton and indeed it made a very nice Kingston Negroni.

Next I tried the Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend, an equal portion ratio of Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Xaymaca, and Planteray OFTD that clocks in at 50% ABV. We love this in a Mai Tai, but it didn’t work amazingly in the Negroni to pair with the bitter Campari.

The best Kingston Negroni I could make? Well, that had Smith & Cross as the rum. Who’d have thunk it? I let Mrs. Mai Tai try this and she said “there is something funky in there.” She used the perfect word without even knowing that this is what folks use to refer to the classic overripe fruit taste of Jamaica rum. This one was by far the best Kingston Negroni.

Kingston Negroni
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Smith & Cross Jamaica rum
Stir with ice. Strain over large cubes and express an orange peel.

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Penultimate Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki

We thank bartender Kriss for indulging us with a little experiment, making a great Penultimate Mai Tai on our visit on Wednesday.

Based on the rums available we riffed a little bit but this is still a dark flavorful rum along with a Hawaiian rum. In this case 1½ oz of Diamond Reserve Dark and ½ oz Kō Hana Kea in a standard 1944 Mai Tai. A little less complex than our four-rum Ultimate Mai Tai blend but still really full of flavor.

The Kon-Tiki Burger and a Mai Tai is still my favorite thing in the town. Pretty busy on Wednesday, everyone keep it going and support our friends at The Kon-Tiki.

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Blue Monday Mai Tai

Yes, it’s a Mai Tai. It has lime, rum, orange liqueur, and orgeat – just like a Mai Tai should. But we are substituting a high quality Blue Curacao in place of the Orange Curacao and using flavorful clear rum, letting that sweet blue color shine. Giffard is our strongly preferred brand of choice and the best Blue Curacao by a mile.

Any quality aged white rum would do fine here. I’m using Denizen Aged White rum but Probitas, Hamilton White Stache or Breezeway Blend, or even Planteray 3 Star would be fine. You just want to have a little age on the rum to impart some barrel notes that nod to the Mai Tai’s original long-aged rum. Any Overproof Jamaica rum such as Wray & Nephew, Rum Bar, Worthy Park, or Monymusk would fit the bill here though in this case I’m using Rum Fire.

Blue Mai Tai

1 oz Lime Juice

½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)

¼ oz Simple Syrup

½ oz Giffard Curaçao Bleu

½ oz Denizen Aged White Rum

1 oz Rum Fire Overproof Jamaica Rum

Shake with crushed ice and garnish with mint.

The clearer and less brown/cloudy your orgeat is the better. Latitude 29 fits the bill perfectly and could be used at ¾ oz to omit the simple syrup entirely.

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A Mai Tai Slushie and it’s Fantastic

Mai Tai week continues with a twist, thanks to Derek from Make & Drink who treated me to a Mai Tai Slushie made in his Ninja machine. Derek is launching Make & Drink Frozen, a new YouTube channel devoted to frozen cocktails, so check out today’s video and also give his new channel a watch.

Derek’s slushie was comparable to the one I had with an industrial machine at Tommy Bahama’s Marlin bar in San Diego. Three fine Jamaica rums were used in Derek’s Mai Tai, and you could float some rum for additional flavor or ABV if that’s your thing.

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The Shingle Stain Cocktail from Trader Vic’s

Trader Vic’s Emeryville has a special retro menu for the summer, including vintage cocktails and food from decades past. One cult classic is the Shingle Stain which is named due to its red color. Also notable is the paper drink topper first employed by Trader Vic’s in the 1960s (see menu from the Beverly Hills location below). I’m not a roofer by trade but I’m really not sure what to think of the illustration featuring a man with his behind hanging out and a woman on the other side who’s lost her bikini top. Times have changed.

Nevertheless, you can order this juicy cocktail today in Emeryville including the topper that you can take home as a souvenir. This was the second version of the cocktail, first published in Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide Revised and significantly different from the original published in Trader Vic’s Book of Food & Drink.

From the Beverly Hills Trader Vic’s menu, 1960s

Shingle Stain (1946)
Half a Lime *
1 oz Dark Jamaica Rum (Red Heart or Myers’s)
½ oz St. James Rhum
¼ oz Pimento Dram
Dash of Pomegranate Syrup (Grenadine) *
Shake with cracked ice and pour over cracked ice in a 12 oz chimney glass
* Vic said that the juice of one lime is equivalent to one ounce and “dash” of this style of ingredient equaled a quarter ounce.

The Pimento Dram and Grenadine provide a tart taste but pleasant taste not unlike Cranberry, which likely led to the second version of the cocktail.

1946 Shingle Stain at home

Shingle Stain (1972)
Juice of one Lime
2 dash Angostura Bitters
¼ oz Grenadine
1½ oz Cranberry Juice
½ oz Pineapple Juice
2 oz Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum
Shake with ice cubes and pour into a ten-pin pilsner glass. Decorate with fresh mint.

Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum was likely was a bold and pungent rum blend. Its use in the Shingle Stain tells me that you need that boldness to compete with all the juices and notably the strong flavors of Cranberry Juice. In Emeryville they use Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum. While I do like this rum in the Mai Tai it does get a little lost in the Shingle Stain with all the other ingredients. I’d recommend using an aged Jamaica rum for this cocktail.

Frame print at Trader Vic’s Emeryville
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Retro Cocktails at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

Had sort of an impromptu visit to Trader Vic’s Emeryville on Thursday night to sample some of the cocktails from their special vintage food and cocktail menu that’s been on special this summer. We’ll cover the Shingle Stain in a separate post, but we enjoyed trying two other vintage items: the Potwasher and the Bamboo Punch.

The Potwasher was the signature cocktail for the short-lived 1979 spin-off restaurant Mama Gruber’s Fishhouse, and after closing was on the Señor Pico menu. The description says this contains Dark Rum and Sloe Gin, Pineapple, Spiked with Grog Mix. I thought the mouthfeel and balance of this cocktail was pretty good, and you’re getting a lot of rich flavor from the Vic’s Grog Mix. I wasn’t able to find the recipe but we do have a photo of the original signature mug.

Potwasher

The Bamboo Punch dates back to at least the 1960s and also appeared in the Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide Revised. This didn’t really have a ton of depth to me, and needed a little more sugar to balance the tart and bitter elements.

Bamboo Punch (1972)
Juice of one Lime *
2 dash Peychaud’s Bitters
½ oz Passion Fruit Nectar
1 dash Trader Vic’s Rock Candy Syrup *
1 oz Trader Vic’s Puerto Rican Rum
1¼ oz Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum
* Vic said that the juice of one lime is equivalent to one ounce. Vic later said that “dash” of this style of ingredient equalled a quarter ounce.

At the time of publication, the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum was a blend of 70% Jamaica rum, 20% Martinique, and 10% Virgin Island rum. It likely was a bold and pungent rum blend, designed for the Mai Tai. In Emeryville they’re using Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum. I’d recommend using an aged Jamaica rum for this cocktail to better balance against the light Puerto Rican rum.

Lava Haze and Bamboo Punch

The modern cocktails recently added to the cocktail menu at Vic’s address contemporary sensibilities for more assertive flavors, such as the smoked pineapple in Mrs. Mai Tai’s Lava Haze, and serve as a counterpart to these vintage drinks when customers liked things a little lighter.